Major global currencies
Euro and pound are steady, Australian and Canadian dollars weak ahead of FOMC Reuters

The euro, the pound and the yen traded little changed from their previous closes during early European trades on Wednesday (29 July) while the Australian and Canadian dollars showed clear weakness, with the market waiting for the US rate decision scheduled for 6:00pm GMT.

At 10:00 am GMT, the GBP/USD was at 1.5618 from Tuesday's close of 1.5615 while the EUR/USD was at 1.1061 compared to the previous close of 1.1062. The USD/JPY was at 123.61 from 123.56.

At the same time, the USD/CAD edged higher to 1.2967 from Tuesday's close of 1.2921, which was a 12-day low for the pair. The AUD/USD slipped to 0.7299 from 0.7337.

Among the major commodities currencies, the loonie and the Aussie dollar declined but the New Zealand dollar has been resilient ever since the latest monetary policy statement in which the central bank watered down its concerns about the strength of the kiwi dollar.

Expectations of additional hawkish enrichment in the Fed statement this time have been keeping the dollar firm and dollar-denominated commodities weak.

Spot gold edged higher on the day by a margin of $5 to $1099.40 but was holding close to the five-year low of $1,072 touched last week. Brent crude for spot delivery has fallen to a six-month low of $52.26 this week.